Thursday, July 29, 2010

I didn't really have this week's meals very well planned out after coming back from vacation. Last night, I was just going to have Matt make some burgers on the grill & throw together a potato salad. Then I realized I had a beautiful heirloom tomato from the garden to use as well as a crisper drawer full of zucchini. I thought about doing some sort of egg sandwich on biscuits with slices of tomato on it. That wouldn't use an of the zucchini though. I'd made a zucchini galette in the past, why not make something like that & top it with the tomato? Oh, & why not add an egg on top too?Matt thought it sounded a little crazy. Yeah, crazy good.

I ended up cooking the egg a little longer than I wanted. I was hoping for a little bit of runny yolk to mix in with the vegetables but in worrying whether the white was cooked enough the yolk got cooked through. Judge the baking time on how firm you want your egg & check it from time to time. Make sure to use a tomato at the peak of the season for this because you want it to have a lot of flavor, none of that off-season, tasteless stuff.

Put the flour & salt into a food processor & pulse a few times to blend. Add the butter & pulse until the mixture resembles a course meal. Add the water & pulse. Pinch the dough to see if it holds together. If it doesn't add more water 1/2 teaspoon at a time until it does. Form the dough into two balls. Flatten the balls into discs. Wrap in plastic wrap & chill for 30 minutes.

Put the zucchini in a colander & salt generously. Let sit for about an hour. Rinse with cold water & then squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Mix the zucchini with the garlic, onion & cheese. Season with salt & pepper.

Roll the disc of dough out into circles that are about 1/8-inch thick. Spread the zucchini mixture out in the center of each dough circle leaving an inch of dough uncovered all the way around. Fold the edge up on itself & pinch to create a raised edge.Whisk one of the eggs with a little water & brush on the edge. Bake on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper or a silicone mat for 20 minutes.

Remove the tarts from the oven. Place the tomato slices around the edge of the tart leaving a hole in the center. Crack an egg into the center of each tart. Sprinkle grated Parmesan & some salt & pepper over the top. Bake for 10 - 15 more minutes depending on how hard you want your egg.

I have recently come to the conclusion that eggs make most anything better. I've had the problem, too, where the egg white isn't cooked but the yolk is right where I want it... I wonder how we could fix that... I love a runny yolk!